This fourth movie in the series depicts
Shrek’s growing discontent with everyday family life with his wife Fiona and
three ogre children. One day, in a fit
of depression and self-involvement, Shrek foolishly makes an agreement with the
evil magician Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn).
The resulting contract allows Shrek to once again become a real ogre for
a day, returning to his former villager-frightening persona, in exchange for
one day from his childhood. This has
devastating unforseen consequences for Shrek, who becomes trapped in an
alternate reality without family or friends.
Soon realising his mistake, Shrek sets out to reverse the pact and
return to his former predictable, but newly attractive life.

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

A father’s discontent with his wife and family; separation from family and loved ones; war.

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is a great deal of violence in this
movie including:

Shrek roars and then smashes a fist through
his child’s birthday cake

Several scenes depict Shrek roaring at and
frightening villagers, who respond by throwing their farming tools at him and
then running away

One character in a “Punch and Judy”-style
puppet show bashes the other over the head

Living gingerbread men are placed in an arena
to fight much larger wild animal cookie creatures

Tomatoes are thrown at Shrek who is being
transported in a prison-cart;

Witches circle and then chase Shrek

Fiona holds a knife against Shrek’s throat

Shrek and Fiona fight each other with
medieval weapons and then in hand-to-hand combat

There are several battle scenes where ogres
fight witches with medieval weapons.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent
scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb
children under the age of five, including:

Several scenes depict witches who chase and
menace the film’s characters

A magical flute player supernaturally
forces other characters to dance

A giant flying dragon swoops down upon
Shrek and his friends

Several witches and other characters
disintegrate into fireballs

A cat rears up and hisses threateningly at a
donkey

A goose rapidly expands and then explodes

In addition, the 3D component of this film
may create some frightening moments for children in this age group, as everyday
objects suddenly emerge on the screen and appear to jut-out at the
audiences. In this way, close-up images
of even simple movements such as galloping horses may be disturbing for some
young viewers.

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent
scenes and scary visual images, there are several scenes in this movie that
could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

Shrek’s discontent and anger with his
family

Shrek finds his lost daughter’s doll, and
this re-awakens his feelings of sadness at being separated from those he loves

Witches whip a donkey who is hitched to
their cart

Shrek is restrained by witches, who are
holding him down with poles attached to a leather neck brace around his neck

Several characters fall hundreds of metres
over a cliff and into the sea below;

Shrek and the donkey smash through a vast
glass ceiling and fall dozens of metres onto a stone floor;

A cat slashes the donkey with his claws

A dragon becomes ensnared in chains and is
pulled suddenly to the ground

A living gingerbread man is eaten by pigs.

Shrek begins fading into a spreading golden
haze, with the implication that death is coming upon him.

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Children in this age group are unlikely to
be disturbed by anything in this film.

Product placement

None of concern in the film, although
marketing of products associated with the film is likely to escalate in the
weeks around the release

Sexual references

There is one veiled sexual reference in
this movie, when the words, “sweet, luscious, tasty” are apparently used to
describe a woman (although the audience soon finds that the phrase concerned a
plate of waffles).

Nudity and sexual activity

There are some mild depictions of nudity
and sexualised activities in this movie, including:

scenes of Shrek and Fiona in bed

several sequences show Shrek and Fiona
kissing passionately

Use of substances

There is some substance use in this movie,
including:

several scenes portraying adults drinking
alcohol.

Coarse language

None of concern

In a nutshell

Shrek Forever After is a very cleverly
crafted computer animation. Many of the
animated characters, such as Donkey and Puss in Boots are very well depicted
and the 3D component is also extremely effective, without being over-done. Nevertheless, adults may find the story line
rather thin and unsatisfying. In addition,
parents may consider the film unnecessarily violent.

Values in this movie that parents may wish
to reinforce with their children include:

contentment

loyalty

faithfulness

courage

unselfishness

This movie could also give parents the
opportunity to discuss with their children the real-life consequences of violence,
as opposed to the sanitised outcomes portrayed here.